Protective headgear

ABSTRACT

A HAT OF SEMI-RIGID MATERIAL INCLUDES A CROWN PORTION AND A TRUNCATED CONICAL BRIM PORTION EXTENDING OUTWARDLY AND DOWNWARDLY FROM AN UPPER EDGE OF THE CROWN PORTION. AN APRON OF SIMILAR MATERIAL IS CONSTITUTED AS A NUMBER OF SEPARATE APRON SEGMENTS WHICH CAN BE FASTENED TO EACH OTHER AND TO THE BRIM OF THE HAT IN EITHER A LOWER OR AN UPPER LOCATION. THE APRON CONSTITUTES A COPLANAR EXTENSION OF THE HAT BRIM. THE HAT CAN ALSO BE USED WITHOUT THE APRON BEING AFFIXED THERETO. THE APRON SEGMENTS HAVE MULTIPLE FASTENERS ALONG SIDE EDGE PORTIONS THEREOF. MULTIPLE FASTENERS AND FASTENINGS ARE ALSO PROVIDED ALONG THE TOP EDGE PORTIONS OF THE APRON SEGMENTS. THESE TOP APRON SEGMENT FASTENERS COOPERATE WITH APERTURES OR FASTENERS PROVIDED ON THE BRIM OF THE HAT TO POSITION THE APRON AS A COPLANAR EXTENSION OF THE HAT BRIM AT EITHER OF LOWER OR UPPER LOCATIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE BRIM.

N. E. FISHER Jan. 26, 1971- PROTECTIVE HEADGEAR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 2. 1969 INVEN'IOR.

Wm Q

Arrow/vars Jan. '26, 1971 1 A FISHER PROTECTIVE HEADGEAR 2 Sheets-Sheet B Filed Sept. 2, 1969 INVENTOR.

United States Patent ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hat of semi-rigid material includes a crown portion and a truncated conical brim portion extending outwardly and downwardly from an upper edge of the crown portion. An apron of similar material is constituted as a number of separate apron segments which can be fastened to each other and to the brim of the hat in either a lower or an upper location. The apron constitutes a coplanar extension of the hat brim. The hat can also be used without the apron being affixed thereto. The apron segments have multiple fasteners along side edge portions thereof. Multiple fasteners and fastenings are also provided along the top edge portions of the apron segments. These top apron segment fasteners cooperate with apertures or fasteners provided on the brim of the hat to position the apron as a coplanar extension of the hat brim at either of lower or upper locations with respect to the brim.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION This invention has relation to protective head wear for use against the rain, wind and sun. Wide beach hats and old fashioned Gloucester-type rain hats typify this portion of the field of the invention. The invention also provides structure which serves at least some of the functions of complete rain gear, foul weather gear, and all encompassing clothing designed to protect against sunburn. This includes foul weather gear which fastens tightly around the neck and completely encompasses the body of the wearer as well as similar gear of the parka and poncho type which may or may not include a parka hood as a part thereof.

Protective head gear of the present invention will fined use in a wide variety of situations. It was specifically designed for recreational use by persons who want to participate with others in sun exposed activities such as fishing from pier or boat, lounging on the sun deck or beach, or in similar activities; but who dont want to or are physically unable to tolerate more than a certain minimum amount of sun exposure.

Guards or watchmen who must necessarily maintain stationary or walking vigils in the sun or the rain will also find the gear of the invention to be extremely advantageous. For some of these purposes, transparent panels can be provided in the hat brim and/ or as apron segments.

When the head gear is utilized:

(1) as hat only, (2) as upper brim extension, or (3) as lower brim extension gear,

the use of other forms of complete rain gear, foul weather gear, or all encompassing clothing to protect from sunburn can be done away with. The protection afforded by the head gear of the invention does not prevent the wearer from dressing in accordance with ambient temperature and air-flow conditions; 'where as the other special clothing on the wearer to protect from the rain, wind and/or sun arbitrarily determines the amount of heat entrapment around the body of the wearer without regard to his temperature comfort and feeedom of movement. For example, complete rain gear of a size to fit snugly around the body may not allow room for sufficient underclothing to be worn for comfort in extreme 3,557,386 Patented Jan. 2.6, 1971 cold conditions, and definitely constitutes much too much clothing in hot weather conditions. In contrast, the wearer of the protective head gear of the invention can dress as lightly or as heavily as necessary to be comfortable in any particular weather regardless of and without interrerence from such head gear.

In rainy weather, it is particularly undesirable to have the rain passing down the neck. For this reason hoods of the parka or poncho type are often used. The hood is fastened to or is a part of the lower garment, and as such its positioning is determined by and large by the positioning of the shoulder covering portion of the lower garment. Thus, when the user turns his head from side to side, the filed of vision is obscured to the side. In the case of the operation of a boat or of a beach buggy or other open car, this is an extremely dangerous situation, and cannot be tolerated. The usual solution, before the present invention, was to remove the hood, laying it onto the back of the wearer thus not only allowing rain to enter the garment through the neck, but also allowing it to collect in the hood to the rear to be effectively funneled down into the neck of the user when next the hood is put into head covering position.

An exactly parallel situation exists in the situation where a wearer has absorbed all of the sunning desired, or, more important, has become sunburned to some substantially undesirable degree. Here hoods of the parka type are used, and exactly the same dangers evolve from such usages due to the loss of field of vision to the sides as the head is turned with respect to the shoulders.

By utilizing head gear of the present invention which turns with the head, protection against rain, wind and sun is obtained without loss of side areas of vision. Thus, where the gear is worn tipped back on the head as a hat only or with the apron in the upper location to allow satisfactory vision from the front; when the wearer turns his head, the hat turns with it, and the vision to the side is impaired in no way.

Similarly, in any utilization of the gear, where transperent panels are provided, these panels move with the head, and consequently with the eyes and there is no impairment in vision to the side.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION As shown herein, the protective head gear of the present invention includes a hat having a continuous circular brim constituted in the form of a truncated cone, and a continuous apron of semi-rigid material such as woven straw or a plastic counterpart which can be fastened in at least two different positions with respect to the hat brim, each to constitute a coplanar extension of the brim. In a lower location with respect to the hat brim, the apron gives substantially complete protection to the wearer. In an upper location, the apron gives a somewhat lesser degree of such protection but does allow more possibility of vision out from under the head gear.

The apron is made up of a plurality of apron segments which include fasteners and fastenings which allow positioning of the apron at either a lower or an upper location with respect to the hat brim. In either location, the apron forms a coplanar extension of the truncated or frusto-conical section of the brim.

It is an object of the invention to provide protective head gear including a hat having a continuous brim, the hat being of size to give at least minimum protection from the sun, wind and rain while allowing substantially 3 protection from the sun, wind and rain than when the hat is used alone, but which will allow at least some vision by the wearer out from under the lower edge of the apron.

Yet a further object of the invention is to provide pro tective head gear which, in one of its forms, can provide virtually complete protection from the sun and rain even at the expense of a substantial loss of mobility on the part of the wearer and a substantial restriction in the field of vision.

It is an object of the invention to provide the protective head gear referred to in the foregoing paragraph in which the restriction to the field of vision is reduced or eliminated by the provision of transparent panels in the brim and/ or apron of the head gear.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of protective head gear of the present invention showing an apron thereof afiixed to a hat brim thereof in an upper location of the apron with respect to the brim;

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross sectional view of the protective head gear of FIG. 1 taken on line 22 in that figure;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged exploded cross sectional view taken on line 33 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the head gear of the invention with the apron thereof afiixed to the hat brim thereof at a lower location relative thereto; and

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A protective head gear of the present invention includes a hat portion 11 which has a crown 12 adapted to receive the head of a wearer and a semi-rigid outwardly extending brim 13 of truncated conical configuration integral with and extending outwardly from the crown 12 along an upper edge 14 of the hat. The brim 13 terminates in a plane defined by the circular lower edge 15 thereof.

This hat portion 11 can be worn separately when only a minimum of protection from the sun or rain is needed; and to hold it in place, a chin tie string 16 is provided. This tie string passes through the upper surface of the crown 12 as best seen at 17, 17 in FIGS. 1 and 4.

When additional protection from the sun, wind or rain is desired, as when the wearer chooses to sit out in the elements for an extended period, for example when fishing from a pier or from a boat, an apron 20 can be attached to the brim 13 of the hat 11. As shown, the apron can be attached to have either a lower location or an upper location with respect to the hat brim. By the simple process of providing additional fasteners, more than two apron locations with respect to the brim could be provided within the scope of this invention.

In order to attach the apron to the brim at an upper location, a plurality of apron segments 21 are provided with fastening means to cooperate with upper fastening means 18 provided in the hat brim to fixedly position at least two points along a top edge portion of each apron section with respect to the brim. Many different kinds of fasteners would be effective for this purpose, but as shown, and as best seen in FIG. 3, a base section 23 afiixed to a top edge corner portion of a first apron segment 19 and a cooperating bayonet section 24 afiixed to the brim 13 constitute an interlocking fastener 22. An opening 25 in a top edge portion of the next adjacent apron section 26 is aligned between the two fastener sections so that the fastener sections when pushed into cooperating fastened position with respect to each other hold the three members in fixed relationship to each other at that point.

Other fasteners usable could also consist of two releasable interlocking sections. For example, a first section could be of hooks or deformable prongs and the second section could be a grommet or other opening. First sections could be in the form of one or two tie strings with second sections being constituted as single tie strings or orifices through which the ties of the first section can be fastened.

An additional fastening constituted as a fastening cord 27 passes through grommets 28, 28 in each of the apron segments 21 and ties as at 29 outside of the apron.

Around a bottom edge portion of the apron 20, each segment 21 has one bayonet section 24 situated along a first edge portion thereof and two base sections 23 closer to a second edge portion. Section 24 of one segment, and either of the base sections 23 of an adjacent section when interlocked with each other form an interlocking fastener 22.

In the attachment of the apron to the brim at the upper location, bayonet sections 24 which constitute upper fastening means 18 are assoicated with the base sections 23 along the top edge portion of segments 21 to provide maximum overlap of adjacent sections, as seen in FIG. 1.

In order to attach the apron to the brim at the lower location, these interlocking fasteners 22 along the top edge portion of the apron segments are unfastened, and the portion of the adjacent apron section containing the opening 25 is disassociated with its aligned fastener. The base sections 23 integral with the top edge portion of the segments are fastened into lower fastening means 30 which are constituted as a plurality of bayonet sections 24 situated lower on the brim.

In order to accomplish this, the fastening cord 27 will have to be untied and loosened so that the apron segments 21 will take position as seen in FIG. 4. The bottom edge portion interlocking fasteners 22 will also be disconnected, and the bayonet portion 24 of each will be fastened into the base portion 23 of the adjacent segment which is nearest to the edge of that segment, also as best seen in FIG. 4. When the parts are properly positioned, the fastening cord 27 can once again be tied this time as it 31.

When the hat portion 11 of the protective head gear is to be used alone, the segments 21 can each be disassociated from the other, and all can be stored flat; or they can be left connected and rolled up.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. Protective head gear comprising a hat having a crown and a continuous outwardly and downwardly extending brim, a continuous apron consisting of a plurality of independent and separate overlapping apron segments, fastening means on said brim and on said segments for releasably fastening said segments to each other and to said brim and positioning said apron in overlapping, contiguous, supported relationship on top of the entire outer, lower edge portion of said brim, said apron segments constituting an outward and downward coplanar extension of said brim.

2. The combination as specified in claim 1 wherein each of the apron segments includes a top edge portion, a bottom edge portion and two side edge portions; and wherein said fastening means includes a plurality of mating two section releasable apron-brim fasteners, first sections of which are mounted on the hat brim and the second sections of which are mounted on the top edge portions of said apron segments.

3. The combination as specified in claim 2 wherein said fastening means also includes a plurality of mating two section releasable apron segment fasteners mounted on side edge portions of said segments.

4. The combination as specified in claim 3 wherein a plurality of first lower brim mounted sections of said apron-brim fasteners are located on the lower edge portion of said brim and a plurality of first upper brim mounted sections of said apron brim fasteners are located above said first lower brim mounted sections; wherein a first set of said apron segment fasteners are located relatively close to a first of the side edges of said apron segments and a second set of such apron segment fasteners are located relatively farther from said first apron segment edges than are said first set; and wherein said apron when fastened using said plurality of first lower brim mounted fastener sections and said first set of apron segment fasteners forming said extension to said brim of maximum dimension and when fastened using said plurality of first upper brim mounted fastener sections and said second set of apron segment fasteners forming said brim extension of lesser dimension.

'5. The combination as specified in claim 6 wherein said brim is of substantially frusto-conical shape and extends outwardly from a top outer edge portion of said crown.

'6. Protective headgear icnluding a hat comprising a crown and a continuous outwardly and downwardly extending brim, a continuous apron around said brim consisting of a plurality of apron segments, fastening means on said brim and on said segments fastening said segments to each other and to said brim positioning said apron in overlapping, contiguous, supported relationship of the outer, lower edge portion of said brim, said apron segments constituting an outward and downward coplanar extension of said brim; each of said apron segments including a top edge portion, a bottom edge portion and two side edge portions; said fastening means including a plurality of mating two section releasable apron-brim fasteners, first sections of which are mounted on the hat brim and second sections of which are mounted on the top edge portions of said apron segments; said fastening means also including a pluralit} of mating two section releasable apron segment fasteners mounted on the side edge portions of said apron segments; a plurality of first lower brim mounted sections of said apron-brim fasteners being located on the lower edge portion of said brim and a plurality of first upper brim mounted sections being located above said first lower brim mounted sections; a first set of said apron segment fasteners being located relatively close to a first of the side edges of said apron segments and a second set of such apron segment fasteners being located relatively farther from said first apron segment edges than are said first set; said apron when fastened usin gsaid plurality of first lower brim mounted fastener sections and said first set of apron segment fasteners forming an extension to said brim of maximum dimension and when fastened using said plurality of first upper brim mounted fastener sections and said second set of apron segment fasteners forming a brim extension of lesser dimension; and a fastener constituted as a fastening string extending through the top edge portion of each apron segment.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/1872 Pratt 2-175 4/1909 Powell et al 2-196X 

